A good junk drawer holds a short list of small, quick-grab items: scissors, tape, a few pens, a permanent marker, a mini screwdriver, a tape measure, bandages, spare keys and batteries that are stored safely. Everything else belongs somewhere else. The drawer works when each item has its own spot and you can find what you need in seconds. Below is what pro organizers say to keep, what to move out, how to store the risky items, and how to stop the drawer from filling up again.
TL;DR
- Keep the quick-grab basics: scissors, tape, pens, a permanent marker, a small screwdriver, a tape measure, bandages and spare keys.
- Move out dead batteries, unmatched cords, receipts, manuals, coupons, toiletries, toys and lightbulbs.
- Give every category its own compartment, and keep lids on small boxes for sharp things like thumbtacks.
- Store batteries, lighters and sharp tools out of children’s reach, and never leave loose batteries touching metal.
- Reset the drawer on a schedule. If you can’t find something in five seconds, edit it.
Table of Contents
- The core junk drawer essentials
- Household-specific extras that can earn a place
- What to move out of the drawer
- Storing batteries, sharp tools and lighters safely
- How to sort what stays
- Our view: a junk drawer should be searchable
- Keeping the drawer organized
- A system built for this job
- Extending the system beyond the drawer
- FAQ
- Sources
The core junk drawer essentials
Professional organizers disagree on plenty, but their lists overlap a lot. The Spruce reports that organizers agree on small tools (a mini screwdriver, tape, scissors), bandages, a battery tester and a few writing utensils. Full-sized tools are too big for the space.
Here is a working list built from those recommendations:
| Item | Why it earns a spot | Detail worth copying |
|---|---|---|
| Scissors | Opened packages, snipped tags, taped parcels | Martha Stewart suggests a small pair with a safety sleeve |
| Tape | Repairs, sealing, labeling | Masking tape also labels food for the freezer and storage bins; packaging tape and spare stamps sit well together |
| Pens and a permanent marker | Notes, labels, signing for deliveries | Keep fewer than three writing utensils with a notepad and sticky notes |
| Tape measure | Quick checks on furniture and frames | A compact retractable one fits a drawer; Southern Living’s organizers like one nearby with a small screwdriver |
| Mini screwdriver | Loose hinges, battery covers, glasses | Small enough to lie flat in a compartment |
| Bandages | Small cuts while you are already in the kitchen | One flat box, restocked as needed |
| Battery tester | Tells you which batteries are still good | Replaces a pile of unknown loose batteries |
| Spare keys | A home for the extra house key | Label each key so none are mystery keys |
If a drawer has to be limited to a handful of things, Real Simple’s Pulver suggests scissors, tape, pens, a permanent marker and one spot for loose items such as extra house keys. Real Simple’s Bergman describes a utility drawer as holding items that serve a quick, practical purpose: scissors, tape, paper clips, phone chargers, batteries and spare keys.
Household-specific extras that can earn a place
The core list is a starting point. Your home decides the rest. A few items show up often enough to consider:
- Rechargeable batteries. Martha Stewart’s list calls for rechargeable batteries that are fully charged, which beats a heap of unknown ones.
- A lighter or matches. Useful for candles and the grill, and best kept where children cannot reach (more on that below).
- Chip clips and rubber bands. Pro organizers group these as “keep-togethers.” Limit the quantity. House Beautiful quotes McHolm asking whether you really need 1,000 rubber bands, and if not, to get rid of at least 995.
- Paper clips. Pulver’s advice is to keep things where you use them. If you only use paper clips in your home office, they don’t belong in the kitchen drawer.
- Sticky notes and a small notepad. Handy for quick messages next to the phone charger or the grocery list.
A family with school-age kids might add a pencil sharpener. A renter might add a small set of picture hooks. The test is simple: did you reach for it in the last few months? If not, it probably lives better elsewhere.
What to move out of the drawer
The fastest way to a better drawer is to take things out. The Spruce’s organizers list what is better removed: old keys without a clear mate, expired batteries, unmatched charging cords, receipts, manuals, coupons, toiletries, toys and lightbulbs.
Relocate by use, not by size:
- Full-sized hardware and tools. Pulver advises moving screws, screwdrivers and masking tape to the garage or basement if that is where you use them. Our guide to organizing screws and nails covers that side.
- Paperwork. Receipts, manuals and coupons need a folder or a file box, not a drawer.
- Bathroom items. Toiletries go back to the bathroom. If those drawers need work too, see our bathroom drawer organization system.
- Mystery parts. McHolm recommends putting them in an empty jar or container and placing it in a closet. If nothing in the jar is claimed after a while, you have your answer.
- Broken things. Camille Styles lists dead batteries and dried-out pens as common mistakes. Test the pens, toss the duds.
One more recommendation from Real Simple’s Mahanna: limit yourself to a single junk drawer so it does not turn into a catch-all.
Storing batteries, sharp tools and lighters safely
A drawer that opens and closes all day is a poor home for anything that can hurt someone. Treat these three categories with care.
Batteries
The Spruce’s Ashley Wynn cautions against loose batteries in a junk drawer because they roll around, leak and create clutter quickly. She suggests a battery tester instead. The bigger risk is metal contact: according to EVLithium’s storage guide, coins, paper clips or other batteries can bridge the terminals, cause a short circuit and rapid heating, and in extreme cases thermal runaway.
For 9-volt batteries, B&W Fire Security Systems summarizes NFPA guidelines: don’t store them loose in a drawer or together with other batteries, keep them in original packaging until use, cover the posts with electrical tape once out of the package, and store them standing up away from jostling. Southern Living’s advice is to put junk-drawer-bound batteries in a battery storage container.
Button batteries and small objects
If children live in or visit your home, take this seriously. HealthyChildren.org notes that beads, buttons, coins, button batteries, pins and screws can be choking hazards or harmful if swallowed. It advises keeping devices with button-cell batteries out of children’s reach and sight, because swallowed button batteries can cause severe injury or death. If your junk drawer sits at toddler height, move these items to a higher shelf or a latched cabinet.
Scissors, sharp tools, lighters and matches
On lighters, Martha Stewart’s quoted organizer Amelie Saint Jacques says to keep lighters and matches out of reach of kids. For households caring for someone with memory loss, the Alzheimer’s Association home safety checklist advises storing matches, sharp objects and tools in a securely locked cabinet. In the UK, Dementia UK’s home risk guide suggests knives and scissors go in a drawer with a safety latch and that lighters and matches are locked away when not in use. If this applies to your home, talk to the person’s doctor or care team about what else to secure.
For small sharp bits like thumbtacks, House Beautiful’s Potter suggests small boxes with lids, so you are not poking your fingers.
How to sort what stays
Once the drawer holds only essentials, sort them into categories. Potter suggests five:
- Writing instruments and pads
- Keep-togethers such as elastic bands and clips
- Electronics
- Hardware
- Mystery bits
The fifth category has a purpose: it gives odd items a temporary home so they do not spread through the rest. Potter also recommends leaving 10 to 15 percent breathing room in the drawer, which makes it easier to see and grab things.
A process that works for a single drawer, adapted from Camille Styles’ six steps and Real Simple’s Bergman:
- Empty the drawer completely.
- Wipe it down. McHolm suggests lining it with shelf paper, and Bergman recommends a high-grip liner so organizers do not shift.
- Toss broken or unused items.
- Relocate anything that belongs elsewhere.
- Group what’s left into categories.
- Add dividers or compartments, then return items prepared for use: sharpen pencils, fold over tape ends, pair batteries by size.
Bergman says this usually takes under 30 minutes for one drawer. Our own walkthrough, turn your junk drawer into a utility drawer in 30 minutes, follows the same rhythm. If you are choosing containers, how to choose and size drawer organizer compartments will save you measuring mistakes. For other household items, see how to organize small items so they stay that way.
Our view: a junk drawer should be searchable
Most advice about junk drawers is about deciding what to keep. That matters, but we think the second half gets less attention: how fast you can find an item once it is in there.
The pro organizers quoted above set a clear bar. If you can’t find what you need in five seconds, the drawer needs editing. A pile of well-chosen items in a bare drawer still fails that test, because the drawer has no structure to tell you where anything lives.
That is why we designed Alpha QuickFind™ around two ideas. The first is an alphabetized compartment structure, so the question “where did I put the tape measure?” has a simple answer: look under T. Customizable dividers let the layout fit your items rather than the other way around. The second is a pull-out dry-erase board built into the system. You can label compartments, jot down what is running low, and track where things went, then wipe it clean and update it as your drawer changes.
Our wooden build is eco-friendly, and professional organizers have given us positive testimonials about how effective and easy to use it is. We believe an organizer should make the right habit the easy habit: put it back under its letter, and next time you find it fast.
Alpha
Keeping the drawer organized
The pros agree on one thing: a junk drawer is never finished, it is maintained.
- Reset on a schedule. Wynn recommends a reset every few months. Pulver says every six months, tossing anything you haven’t used in the last year. Camille Styles suggests a quick five-minute reset once a month to toss broken items, test pens and remove anything that landed there without a real purpose.
- Treat overflow as a signal. Bergman says an overflowing category means edit, not add another compartment.
- Use the five-second rule. If you can’t find what you need in five seconds, edit. Wynn adds that a good junk drawer should make life easier, not more frustrating.
- Keep a label. A quick written label on each compartment prevents a new family member or guest from dropping random things in the wrong place.
- Mind the common mistakes. Camille Styles names treating the drawer as a catch-all, mixing too many categories, skipping dividers and never editing.
If the clutter is spreading beyond one drawer, our small space organization guide offers ten moves to keep clutter from returning, and the kitchen drawer organization piece shows how to divide a kitchen into height bands with a junk drawer fix.
A system built for this job
If you want the sorting done for you structurally, Alpha QuickFind™ is our patented organization system for small household items. It combines alphabetized compartments, customizable dividers and a pull-out dry-erase board for labeling and tracking, in an eco-friendly wooden design. It is made for junk drawers and for centralizing the miscellaneous items that otherwise scatter. It is a one-off purchase at $300.
See the details and order on the Alpha QuickFind™ product page. Professional organizers, busy families, students with desk drawers and homeowners tackling one cluttered spot can all use the same approach.
Extending the system beyond the drawer
Once the junk drawer works, the same habits help elsewhere: edit first, group by category, label what stays. Cupboards are the natural next step, and these ideas for organizing cupboard storage apply the same logic to linen shelves and cupboard doors. Small categories, such as hair clips and ties, can follow the principles in our hair accessories drawer guide, and the alphabetical organization article explains how to sort small items from A to Z.
FAQ
What should every junk drawer have?
Pro organizers keep coming back to scissors, tape, pens, a permanent marker, a small screwdriver, a tape measure, bandages and spare keys. Add a battery tester or a storage container for batteries rather than a loose pile. Keep the list short enough that every item has a spot.
What should you never keep in a junk drawer?
Move out expired batteries, unmatched charging cords, old keys with no mate, receipts, manuals, coupons, toiletries, toys and lightbulbs. Lighters, matches, button batteries and sharp tools should be out of children’s reach. Loose batteries should never touch coins or paper clips.
How many junk drawers should a home have?
Real Simple’s Mahanna recommends one, so it does not become a catch-all. Items that serve a specific job, like screws or masking tape for repairs, can move to the garage or basement near where you use them.
How often should you clean out a junk drawer?
Advice ranges from a five-minute monthly reset to a fuller edit every few months or every six months. Pick the rhythm you will keep. Whenever you can’t find something in five seconds, edit right away.
How long does it take to organize a junk drawer?
Bergman says one drawer typically takes under 30 minutes: empty it, wipe it down, ditch the trash, sort into clear categories, relocate what belongs elsewhere and add simple organizers.
Sources
- What Pro Organizers Don’t (And Do!) Keep in a Junk Drawer, The Spruce
- 7 Essentials to Always Keep in Your Junk Drawer, Martha Stewart
- What You Should And Shouldn’t Store In Your Junk Drawer, Southern Living
- Pro Organizers Don’t Actually Hate Your Junk Drawer, House Beautiful
- How to Finally Get Your Junk Drawer Under Control, Real Simple
- 7 Junk Drawer Must-Haves, According to Pro Organizers, Real Simple
- How to Organize a Junk Drawer, Camille Styles
- Childproofing Your Home for Poisons, HealthyChildren.org
- Alzheimer’s Association Home Safety Checklist
- How to risk assess the home for a person with dementia, Dementia UK
- Can Nine Volt Batteries Cause House Fire, B&W Fire Security Systems
- How to Store NiMH Batteries, EVLithium
- 5 Top Tips to Organise Your Linen Cupboard Storage and Cupboard Doors